Workmen's advocate., 1887-05-14
SOCIALIST SATIRE.
".EXGZAYCH" IN "DAYLIGHT."
FEAT YOUR CHILDREN "

Some time ago Society was deeply scandalzed, and it's susccptibiIities greatly shocked by an incident depicted in new play at London Theatre, The dramatist gave representation on the stage on criminal trial The jury in the case, after the Court scene was over, were duly lock up to consider their yer dict; and in the next scene-thc room to which they were relegated were shown to be considering, not their yer ,particularly, but, amid perfect saturnalia of hubbub, all sorts of mat terS extraneous from how their business affairs were progressing in their absence to how they were going to get anything to eat and drink. This crlo&p was bad enough for fashionable hypocrisy to stand, certainly; still, it might have been forgiven.4 sBut worse remained behind, The twelve good men and true" in the intervals of cursing their hard luck, condescended to devote a little consideration to the cause of it. the case they were brought together to try; but it seemed utterly hopeless that any possible agreement could be- arrived at out of their nteminable wrangling At last happy inspiration occurred to the foreman. Producing a halfpenny, he tossed it in the, air. ''IIead, guilty; tail, not guilty" said he The rest con curing, the verdict was delivered, the trial, concluded, and the jurymen dis charged.
 That was the last straw that broke the back of outraged Responsibility pa. tience. In vain the author of the piece wrote to the Era and other papers, citing at least dozen recorded instances of trials in which the verdict had been ar rived at by the tossing of coin, or by other even more adventitio,ls means. The drawing-roomers would have none of it. Did the author take them for mbeciles: A thing lkel that, in Eng land, never could happen; what is more, it never had happened, or would not the skies have fallen? We'll, the skies were still in their places-e'go, such thing had never occurred. It's no use You can't beat logic, my friends
 Analogously, the present writer has been for some months engaged upon a literary work, the central incident of which is an dct of cmulibdlism commit ted at the present day, and in our Mod ern Babylon. The incident itself, and the necessarily ghastly realism of the de- tails, will, like the example quoted above. be certain to encounter the indignant incredulity of middle class propriety It will be pitying marvelled that anyone could be found to seriously entertain the idea that so horrible an occurrence could, by any manner of means, happen in this nineteenth century, and. least of all, in this glorious England. It will not only be repudiated with pious horror that such barbarism could occur under the rule of Britannia but it will be pro- tested with virtuOus vehemence that the mere suggestion of cannlbalism is to the very last degree utterly repulsive to all English notions of the right and the pronar Tho yritar kpous pnt ovontb, how the incident referred to is destined to strike the general reader; but how little revolting to the capitalist mind it will realiy appear he is well able to judge. On the publication of the work, the capitalist will repudiate and protest as above. Then will come the writer's time. Taking up Justice of March 9th, 1887, he will quote the choice extract which follows, viz;-A correspondent writes: "An article in this week x Justice bears the title Eat Grass This famous saying must really yield its classical posi- ton. Foulon has been fairly beaten, and quite eclipsed, by one of the Lanark shire coalmasters. who, on being told during the recent strike that the miners and their families were starving sug- gested that tue big ones shoaM cut the little ones.'" The writer will also take the liberty of gently reminding the out ragged and protesting ones of another report in wich further answer is given as: "Why, they hare nod yet eatea their children ~
 Now, let it be clearly understood